N/P reducing pellets (solid vodka dosing)

[Scej12]

If you're thinking of a pellet reactor within the foam chamber of the skimmer, I don't think that will work out too well only because the air within the reaction chamber will float the pellets right out of the skimmer into the collection cup in no time flat. Were you thinking of another type of reactor, or one positioned just outside of the skimmer either on the intake or exit side...? Pls clarify so that we can have a better visual of your proposal. Thanks.

SJ

 

[cjilge]

I think it would be cool to see the output of the pellet reactor feed the skimmer, but it would have to be a recirc skimmer to work. I'm not the smartest out there but I would think it would help as the pellets "shed" bacteria films. similar to the efluent line on your calc reactor. Just my 2cents

 

[Scej12]

You're exactly right Chris.. that idea has been a theme of the whole biopellet efficiency discussion. You want your output from the pellets discharging either near to or directly into your skimmer intake. I've actually had it set up both ways (with the skimmer in recirc mode; and pass-thru mode). In pass-thru mode I fed the pellet effluent in through the two venturi pumps... the only issue I had is that depending on the throughput of your pellet setup, you can end up starving the skimmer pumps for flow and therefore negatively affect its efficiency. When I went down to a smaller pump for my pellet reactor, I feed its effluent through one of the skimmer venturi pumps, while the other pump was arranged to operate on recirculation mode. That way, the skimmer efficiency is less affected by the throughput of the pellet reactor.

 

[tntneon]

I'm wondering when someone will build a skimmer with a built in reactor. That seems like it'd be super easy to implement.

I've once played with the idea to put some bp's inside of the bubble chamber of my skimmer , but i didn't procede because it could clog the holes in the bubble plate.
Some of my reaktor BP's have already maked there own way to the bubble chamber via the skimmerpump :spin2:
That's the downfall on an open type reactor , when you get some turbelence in the drain flow , pellets can float over the top to the skimmer.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[cjilge]

You're exactly right Chris.. that idea has been a theme of the whole biopellet efficiency discussion. You want your output from the pellets discharging either near to or directly into your skimmer intake. I've actually had it set up both ways (with the skimmer in recirc mode; and pass-thru mode). In pass-thru mode I fed the pellet effluent in through the two venturi pumps... the only issue I had is that depending on the throughput of your pellet setup, you can end up starving the skimmer pumps for flow and therefore negatively affect its efficiency. When I went down to a smaller pump for my pellet reactor, I feed its effluent through one of the skimmer venturi pumps, while the other pump was arranged to operate on recirculation mode. That way, the skimmer efficiency is less affected by the throughput of the pellet reactor.

That was my fear is starving the skimmer, but I experimentd a few years ago with a DIY skimmer off one of the diy threads here on rc. it didn't take much off a flow rate to feed it. If it wasn't so dang big or I had a fish room I would be trying it right now. It was a 50" reaction chamber 4" dia downdraft using an air pump for bubbles, but I always wanted to put a sedra 9000 on it as a recirc and venturi it. It skimmed like a beast as it was and only ran on a mag 3 feed pump. I think it would be easier to do on the bigger skimmers, but worth a shot. Maybe I pull that beastly thing out of the closet and do some mods! If it worked you could make it out of acrylic or whatever you wanted, which is the main reason I took it off line, you couldn't see when it was dirty and it was a PITA to make the air stones since you couldn't find them locally.

By the way I ran that thing on a 65! lol

 

[redrdwolf]

No offense intended to the folks that put a lot of hard work into this site; however, here is my feedback on Bio Pellets. I have an Elos 70, Vertex UF15 media reactor, Maxi -Jet 1200 and now 500 ml of bio pellets running. Stable Magnesium 1350, Calcium 450, KH 8, NO2 and N3 both 0. All of the pellets suspended and exit sitting next to my skimmer pump intake. I started using a Hanna Phosphorus test kit on day one and it displayed 102ppb. I tested twice a week for the past 5 weeks. I am now at 124ppb. I lost over 5k worth of SPS coral in one week at once. "Snake Oil" Anyone want a reactor?

 

[Pro X]

Spoke with Julian today and he informed me they have a universal screen for Phosban 150 and 550 reactors. Cutting them out of hobby mat is fairly easy but TLF screen is concentric instead of square mesh so it leaves no jagged edges.

I am in the process of adding biopellets to my 125 gallon reef aquarium. As part of a photo contest I got a TLF 550 reactor that will use for this project. I will start with 250ml and will add the rest in the bag until I have the 500ml. I will post the progress of this. I am not going to remove the GFO for the moment. I am planning to use a MaxiJet 1200 I have to see how the pellets move in the reactor.

Here are some photos of the mesh mod to the 550.

 

[lunar]

Here are some Polish tanks using NP reducing biopellets. Some of them have been running the pellets for over a year, others for several months. The younger tanks got off to a good start with the pellets. All these tanks keep the pellets in reactors, have a very good flow through the whole system, strong skimmers, alkalinity around 7-8.

Krzysztof Tryc

Andrzej N.

Grzegorz B.

Ireneusz H.

Piotr Z.

Dariusz L.

Andrzej K. - from the beginning setup with NP biopellets

Rafał O.

Krzysztof K.- from the beginning setup with NP biopellets


and Marcin's movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKa0-M7pqbI&feature=player_embedded#at=13

 

[Aquarist007]

Here are some Polish tanks using NP reducing biopellets. Some of them have been running the pellets for over a year, others for several months. The younger tanks got off to a good start with the pellets. All these tanks keep the pellets in reactors, have a very good flow through the whole system, strong skimmers, alkalinity around 7-8.

Krzysztof Tryc

Andrzej N.

Grzegorz B.

Ireneusz H.

Piotr Z.

Dariusz L.

Andrzej K. - from the beginning setup with NP biopellets

Rafał O.

Krzysztof K.- from the beginning setup with NP biopellets


and Marcin's movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKa0-M7pqbI&feature=player_embedded#at=13

wow---great results
Is it possible for to post the lighting used for each tank

 

[Scej12]

Beauties...!!!

Beauties...!!!

Here are some Polish tanks using NP reducing biopellets. Some of them have been running the pellets for over a year, others for several months. The younger tanks got off to a good start with the pellets. All these tanks keep the pellets in reactors, have a very good flow through the whole system, strong skimmers, alkalinity around 7-8.

WOW - Great Post Lunar. Thanks for sharing that. Those tanks are amazing. Do you have links as to where these tanks might be detailed in terms of equipment used... i.e. ozone or not; as well as params in addition to dkh. Even if in Polish, I'm sure google can translate easy enough... let me know if you have any links to some details.

Thanks.

Sheldon

 

[tntneon]

that's some awesome tanks :eek1: ,are those tanks only using the BP's or are they also using zeo products ?
thx for sharing those beautifull pics !
I still have good results with the pellets , but those colors i can't achive (yet ) in my nano .


greetingzz tntneon

 

[Petar]

Krzysztof my friend, very impressive , keep up a good work.

 

[lunar]

Thanks for your kind comments.

Unfortunately, most of them don't have their homepages.

For info about Krzysztof's tank (the last photo) go here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1883121; you can find the details of Marcin's tank here: http://smithpl.blogspot.com/

Andrzej N. (the second photo) can read posts on RC but he can't write anything although he is registered, he's contacting with RC admin and let's hope he will sort this problem out.
And as for other tanks, I'll try to write everything what I know. None of them uses ozone.
Piotr Z. (the fifth picture) uses Leds and T5, Rafał O. (the eighth pic) HQI + T5, the others only T5.

Krzysztof

 

[biecacka]

so i have a 220 and am tinkering w the idea of pellets. how much do i need and what size reactor/pump should i look into?
corey

 

[tntneon]

so i have a 220 and am tinkering w the idea of pellets. how much do i need and what size reactor/pump should i look into?
corey

-For your tank i would recommend to intialy use 500ml (low dose), it is also important to tell us how much No3/po4 your tank measures
High NO3 can trigger algea blooms then it safer to start with less amout of pellets then subcribed

You can always slowy up it if you don't see any results.

IMO the best reactor is an open type one who's fed directly from the overflows of your tank (or partialy if the intire flow is too much).

Try to locate your reactor output as close as possible to your skimmer intake .
Use a good skimmer(this is very important) , and clean cup and neck off skimmer regulary , weekly if possible.
If you can't skim the exesive bacteria off , they will die in the watercolom and no nutrients are exported !!

greetingzz tntneon

 

[IEreef]

This is exactly the thread i've been looking for! I've been researching biopellets for the past couple weeks and I think this would benefit my system. I have a 75g with a reef octopus 110 and I want to run them in a spare TLF 150 reactor. Npx states 100ml per 25g and I want to start out slow and reduce the chances of a bloom. How many ml should I start out with?

Sent from Tapatalk Pro

 

[TheFishMan65]

I started with 150 (generic brand) on my 75. And have slowly increased it to 450 with no adverse affects.

 

[Rhodes19]

Well, I must say this has been and interesting thread. I started off reading it looking for validation that I was going to make a good decision and go with the bio pellets but after reading about so many folks having problems I'm thinking about not getting the pellets. Has any one had an opportunity to talk with the developers or manufacturers about the issues folks are having and what their take is on it? I like the idea but I don't want to loose my corals or increase my nuisance algae.

 

[biecacka]

i like the idea of feeding the reactor from the drain pipe but not sure if i can do that in my setup. i would likely use a MJ or something right next to the drain output

 

[gregr]

I started out with 250ml of Vertex pellets in the medium sized Octopus reactor three weeks ago. The're's about 160g total water volume in the system. Acros and lps look great and have excellent polyp extension and seem to be growing well even though the phosphate level was at 0.11 when I tested it last week. Basically what I want out of this stuff is to not have to use GFO anymore. I do not like GFO.
My questions are-- when should I add more pellets, how much more should I add, and should I add some bacteria?
Thanks!